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quackalacka 's review for:
The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins
The primary purpose of this book, as stated by Dawkins in its introduction, is to make a case for atheism to sway theists from their beliefs. In that, I believe this book has failed, and as such, it is a bad book. If the book’s purpose was to serve as pseudo-intellectual circlejerk fodder for r/atheism, then I think it did a good job.
I am agnostic as it is, and even I wanted to quit reading this book, it was so belittling, insulting, smug, condescending, and compassionless. Dawkins repeatedly calls his target audience stupid and needlessly mocks the very people he hopes to convert. Now why would anybody sit here and take that shit, except for people who already believe in it? That’s the kind of rhetoric that solidifies opposing beliefs. That doesn’t open up a dialogue. If a person didn’t hate and misunderstand atheists before picking up this book, then the book itself gives them ample reason to do so.
In addition, it’s painfully apparent that Dawkins has never made any genuine, honest effort to understand the people or beliefs which he attacks in these pages. He misrepresents religious beliefs and claims to such a degree that a religious person picking up this book would naturally conclude that Dawkins was the idiot in the scenario, for he has shown a complete lack of understanding of the subject area, yet speaks with the very unearned authority he himself ascribes to religious figures.
Dawkins’ writing style is scathing, demeaning, dismissive, and egotistical, and puts him in the same category for me as Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson: To these men, it is more important to be seen taking a big steaming shit on another person than it is to actually impart wisdom or challenge their beliefs. Every point Dawkins makes in this book can be made without the petty insults and edgelord attitude. If you crossed out all the ranting and excessive affrontery, the book would be half as long and twice as effective.
I am agnostic as it is, and even I wanted to quit reading this book, it was so belittling, insulting, smug, condescending, and compassionless. Dawkins repeatedly calls his target audience stupid and needlessly mocks the very people he hopes to convert. Now why would anybody sit here and take that shit, except for people who already believe in it? That’s the kind of rhetoric that solidifies opposing beliefs. That doesn’t open up a dialogue. If a person didn’t hate and misunderstand atheists before picking up this book, then the book itself gives them ample reason to do so.
In addition, it’s painfully apparent that Dawkins has never made any genuine, honest effort to understand the people or beliefs which he attacks in these pages. He misrepresents religious beliefs and claims to such a degree that a religious person picking up this book would naturally conclude that Dawkins was the idiot in the scenario, for he has shown a complete lack of understanding of the subject area, yet speaks with the very unearned authority he himself ascribes to religious figures.
Dawkins’ writing style is scathing, demeaning, dismissive, and egotistical, and puts him in the same category for me as Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson: To these men, it is more important to be seen taking a big steaming shit on another person than it is to actually impart wisdom or challenge their beliefs. Every point Dawkins makes in this book can be made without the petty insults and edgelord attitude. If you crossed out all the ranting and excessive affrontery, the book would be half as long and twice as effective.